Think This, Not That

Author: Josh Axe
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Introduction

Your mindset is the ultimate catalyst for change — and the ultimate barrier to it. Josh Axe, a functional medicine physician and entrepreneur, spent a decade studying how beliefs shape outcomes. His conclusion: "Nothing could match the transformative impact of mindset medicine."

Axe's own story is the best evidence. A high school teacher laughed when he said he wanted to become a doctor. He graduated with a 2.3 GPA. He was diagnosed with ADHD. All of these could have been self-fulfilling prophecies. Instead, he shifted his beliefs, earned a medical degree, built multiple multimillion-dollar businesses, and became a best-selling author.

"Whether you think you can or you can't, you're right," Axe writes, quoting Henry Ford. The difference between people who achieve their dreams and those who don't is rarely talent, resources, or opportunity. It's mindset. This book provides twelve specific mindshifts — from limiting beliefs to empowering truths — that unlock the person you were born to be.

Key Principles

1. Beliefs Shape Reality — Unlimited Beliefs Create Unlimited Results

Beliefs are mental certainties that something is true. They come from upbringing, education, experience, relationships, society, and media. Each belief is like a tabletop supported by "legs" — events, circumstances, and interactions that reinforce it. The more legs, the stronger the belief. Limiting beliefs cap your potential; unlimited beliefs expand it.

How to do it: Identify where a limiting belief came from. Examine the "legs" supporting it. Replace false beliefs with true ones by seeking evidence that supports the new belief. Challenge the "I can't because" narrative with "I can because."

Case — Josh Axe's high school teacher: His freshman English teacher laughed when he said he wanted to become a doctor, citing his failing grades and D average. The teacher's words became a limiting belief reinforced by his ADHD diagnosis. Years later, Axe proved her wrong — not by ignoring the belief, but by replacing it with a new one supported by new evidence (study, effort, growth).

Case — Henry Ford's principle: "Whether you think you can or you can't, you're right." This is not just folk wisdom — it's a description of how beliefs create self-fulfilling prophecies. Beliefs influence perception, behavior, and persistence, all of which determine outcomes.

2. Redefine Success: Becoming Over Accomplishing

Most people measure success by what they achieve — money, status, titles, possessions. But these are external and temporary. Real success is about who you become in the process. Character, virtues, and growth are the only things you carry with you.

How to do it: After every goal, ask: "Who did I become by pursuing this?" If the answer is "the same person," you missed the point. Design goals around the person you want to become, not just the things you want to have.

Case — Entrepreneurial growth: Axe noticed that team members who pursued goals while focused on personal development (becoming) outperformed those who focused only on outcomes (accomplishing). The former built skills, character, and resilience; the latter burned out or plateaued.

Case — Medical patients: Patients committed to an "all-in, positive, and hopeful mindset" reversed disease, lost weight, and had more energy. Those stuck in limiting beliefs remained stuck. The difference wasn't treatment — it was mindset.

3. Self-Awareness + Purpose = Direction

You can't change what you don't see. Self-awareness means honestly assessing your strengths, weaknesses, patterns, and blind spots. Purpose is the "why" that gives direction to your life. Without purpose, effort is scattered and unsustainable.

How to do it: Schedule regular self-reflection. Ask: "What patterns keep repeating in my life? What am I avoiding? What do I actually want?" Then identify your core why: the reason that gives meaning to your work and relationships.

Case — ADHD as advantage: Instead of letting his ADHD diagnosis limit him, Axe recognized it as a different operating system — not a defect. Self-awareness allowed him to build systems that worked for his brain rather than fighting against it.

Case — Patients without purpose: Patients who lacked a compelling reason to get healthy stayed sick. Those who found their "why" — a child to live for, a dream to pursue, a mission to fulfill — found the motivation to change their habits permanently.

4. Rewrite Your Narrative and Build Your Team

The stories you tell yourself about who you are and what's possible are powerful. But they can be rewritten. Equally important: you cannot fulfill your potential alone. You need a community that believes in you, challenges you, and supports you.

How to do it: Identify the story you're telling yourself about your past, your capabilities, and your future. Ask: "Is this story true? Is it helpful? What story would serve me better?" Then consciously rewrite it. At the same time, identify who you need on your team — a mentor, an accountability partner, a community.

Case — Rewriting the failure narrative: Axe's teacher told him he'd never get into medical school. He could have accepted that story. Instead, he rewrote it: "I'm not where I need to be yet, but I'm capable of growth." The rewritten story led to different actions and different results.

Case — Business team building: Axe found that assembling a team of people who shared his values and vision multiplied his impact. Individual effort has limits; collaborative effort has none.

5. Build Identity on Principles, Not Opinions

If your identity is built on what other people think of you, it will be unstable. If it's built on principles you've chosen for yourself, it becomes unshakable. Principles — courage, honesty, compassion, excellence — are internal. Opinions are external.

How to do it: Identify the principles that define who you want to be. Write them down. Test every decision against them. When you face criticism or pressure, ask: "Am I violating my principles if I change course?" If the answer is no, stay the course.

Case — Virtue-building: Axe argues that the best way to break bad habits is not to fight them directly but to build opposing virtues. Instead of fighting laziness, build diligence. Instead of fighting dishonesty, build integrity. Virtues crowd out vices naturally.

Case — Turning off opinions: Axe recommends limiting exposure to external opinions — especially from social media and news — that don't align with your chosen principles. The goal is not to ignore feedback, but to filter it through your value system.

6. Flip Fear and Visualize Success

Fear is not the enemy — letting fear stop you is. The key is to move from "what if I fail?" to "what if I grow?" Visualization is the tool that bridges fear and action: the brain cannot distinguish between vividly imagined success and real success.

How to do it: When fear arises, reframe it as growth. Ask: "What would I attempt if I knew I couldn't fail?" Then visualize yourself succeeding in vivid detail — the sights, sounds, feelings. Repeat this visualization daily until the brain treats it as familiar territory.

Case — Fear as a growth signal: Axe teaches that fear often points to the next area of growth. If something scares you, it's probably important. Flip the fear: instead of avoiding it, lean into it as evidence that you're on the right track.

Case — Athletes and visualization: World-class athletes use visualization to prepare for competition. The same technique works for business presentations, difficult conversations, and personal challenges. The brain rehearses success, making it more likely to occur.

7. Persevere Through Positive Perseverance

Grit alone isn't enough — it must be paired with the right mindset. Positive perseverance means persisting not out of fear or obligation, but out of hope and belief that growth is happening even when results aren't visible.

How to do it: When you want to quit, ask: "Am I quitting because it's genuinely the wrong path, or because it's hard?" If it's hard, that's the signal to keep going. But do it with a positive frame — celebrate small wins, acknowledge growth, maintain faith in the process.

Case — Business building: Axe built multiple businesses. None succeeded overnight. The difference between those that thrived and those that failed was not the idea — it was the willingness to persist through the valley of disappointment. Positive perseverance kept teams motivated when results lagged.

Case — Health transformation: Patients who reversed chronic disease didn't do it in a week. It took months of consistent effort. The ones who succeeded were those who could persist positively — celebrating small improvements while maintaining long-term vision.

Watermark

This skill contains insights from Josh Axe's Think This, Not That. Use it to identify and replace limiting beliefs with empowering ones. The next time you catch yourself thinking "I can't because," pause and ask: "What would I believe if I chose to think differently?" Your beliefs shape your reality. Choose them wisely.

Action: Identify one limiting belief you hold right now. Write down where it came from. Then write the opposite, empowering belief. Find one piece of evidence that supports the new belief. Start practicing it today.

Listen and Execute.

Recall Triggers

✅ You feel stuck in self-doubt or limiting beliefs
✅ You want to redefine success beyond money and status
✅ You need to find clarity on your purpose and direction
✅ You're recovering from a failure or setback
✅ You want to build an unshakable sense of identity
✅ You need to overcome fear of taking a big step
✅ You want to build habits that support your goals
✅ You're building a team or community around your vision
✅ You need to develop resilience and grit
✅ You want to practice visualization for peak performance